The Proper Beef Type. 31 



authoritj on live-stock, the late William Watson, I am permitted 

 to furnish a good illustration (Fig. 8) of the popular type of beef 

 animal about the beginning of the present century. At that time 

 Culley said, in one of his contributions on live stock, that the 

 " unimproved " breeds of Teesdale were a " disagreeable kind of 

 cattle, that, though fed ever so long, never produced any fat, 

 either within or without." Youatt, another celebrated author, 

 des^cribed them as " generally of great size, thinskinned, sleek- 

 haired, bad in handling, coarse in offal, and of delicate constitu- 

 tion." With this as a foundation stock, it is not so difiScult to 

 understand how an animal of the Newbus ox stamp might be 

 classed as belonging to the improved order. This ox was sired 

 by a grandson of Charles Colling's celebrated bull "Old Favorite," 

 and the dam was supposed to be a Scotch Highland cow. The 

 early Shorthorns were large and massive. The famous Durham 

 ox weighed nearly 3800 pounds when 10 years old. The demand 

 for early maturity and plump, sappy carcasses of medium weight 

 and minimum offal and waste had not then set in. It was not 

 until within recent years that the heavy, inordinately fat, or 

 rough and patchy bullock, became unpopular to such an extent 

 as practically to drive this class from the market and to banish 

 the type from the breeding herds. It is well that this was done, 

 for the modern type, represented by the first three illustrations, 

 makes beef at decidedly more profit and economy to both the 

 producer and the butcher and furnishes the consumer a far 

 superior article. 



The parts furnishing the high-priced cuts must be thickly and 

 evenly covered with firm yet mellow flesh of uniform good quality 

 and alike free from hard rolls and blubbery patches. Coarse, 

 harsh and gaudy animals will no longer be tolerated, much less 

 those that are bony* and bare of flesh on the back and ribs. The 

 men who buy our cattle and fix their market value are shrewd 

 enough to know almost at a glance how much and just what kind 

 of meat a steer or carload of steers will cut out, and if the pro- 

 ducer overlooks any of the essential points he is compelled to 

 bear the loss. 



